


Day 3: Time Travel Au

by Sarahs_sinnlose_schreiberei



Series: Carry on Countdown 2017 [3]
Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Childhood Memories, M/M, Memories, Portals, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 20:29:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13621113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarahs_sinnlose_schreiberei/pseuds/Sarahs_sinnlose_schreiberei
Summary: Simon creates a time portal even though his magic is gone and relives an old memory.





	Day 3: Time Travel Au

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually a bit proud of this one *hides*

Penny

 

Baz and I enter the flat. He doesn't live with us but he's here more often than he is not.   
I ran into him at the main entrance, just about to ring Simon out of his daily afternoon nap.   
I don't mind him being around. Baz is not as bad as Simon tried to make me believe for years. He has some interesting opinions and is an intelligent guy to discuss worthwhile matters with.   
I'm glad they finally figured things out. Simon needed stability in his life… Something constant. A guiding thread to follow when things get bad again.   
I don't know about Baz but I am sure he's been through a lot too. And not just recently.   
Stepping inside the hallway I immediately sense an electric tingling surrounding me. It feels like it's pulling me in, a strange suction.   
I'm but minor substance circling steadily down the drain.   
Baz must have felt something too. He's rushing past me, his face pulled into a mixture of fear and worry.   
I hear him running around the corner and into the living room. He stops abruptly.   
I'm not far behind. The strange feeling is getting intense, harder to ignore.   
“It's a…a…”, Baz mumbles.   
“Portal”, I finish his thought.   
“I've heard a lot about them but I… Did you ever see one for real?”, he sounds anxious.   
I can't answer right away. I am too mesmerized. Simon is sitting on the couch, face turned away from the door. His wings are folded messily and his tail whips from one side to the other. Like a cat focusing on its prey. Right in front of him is a dark blue, purple, yellow mass. A circling monstrosity, like a horizontal hurricane. It's hypnotising. A magnet pulling me towards it's sheer power.   
There are sparks flying around it but they aren't fiery. More like dark specks of light sizzling through the air.   
These portals are produced involuntarily. They appear when a magician is completely consumed by their thoughts. Thoughts of the past. Good or bad. It doesn't matter.   
The magician has to be completely lost in his own head. Not able to communicate or think of anything else than this one particular memory.   
It has to cloak your whole being.   
I don't think Simon is aware of the portal he created. He's just sitting there, staring blankly at the wall right next to the chaotic force he unwillingly created.   
“I thought his magic was gone…”, Baz sounds a clueless as I feel.   
“Do you think it's coming back?” I ask him. I don't know if I should feel hopeful or not. Simon was never able to control his magic properly. Living around magic made him happy, his own magic didn't. 

Baz

I don't answer Penny's question. Spellbound by the beauty in front of me I step forward. I know I'm risking to ruin everything, to crush the gateway with my doing, but I want to share this moment with him, want to show him what he was able to create.   
His hands are clenched in his lap. I crouch in front of him setting my hands gently atop of his. I try to draw the tension out of them carefully. I can feel how my tender caresses relax the muscles underneath my fingers.   
After a few moments I turn his hands around, interlacing our fingers with just a little hesitation and pull him upright with me.  
He's still entirely trapped in his own head but he let's me tug him away from his current position.   
I stumble a few steps backwards and feel the orbital pull intensifying. The portal can't be far away. One more pace and I feel the colours enveloping me. For a brief moment there is just Simon, me and the chaotic swirl of light and electricity.  
It ends suddenly. Now there's just a rundown room with a tiny bed and a beat up cupboard. The feeling of something not being quite right surrounds us.   
Simon seems to be waking up, seems to realise he's not only thinking about this moment anymore but really exists in it.   
Such portals allow you to experience certain memories again. You can't touch anything, talk to anyone or show that you are present. Just a mere visitor passing through a long gone reality. A helpless spectator barred from any control over the own emotions and thoughts.   
The atmosphere is dark, negative emotions are looming in every corner. Anger, fear, helplessness.   
I realize little Simon sitting on his bed. Lonely.   
All the sudden there is a rush around us. A rush of time.   
With the slight change of settings comes a slight change of ambience.   
I can feel what Simon felt. Between the old feelings and the messy bundle of new ones I sense doubt the strongest. Doubt with a hint of hope.   
I take in the scene.   
In the doorway of the room stands the Mage. He's much younger but looks just as ridiculous.   
All mustachy, leggings and a flowing coat.   
Simon isn't sitting anymore. Standing a few feet away from the Mage he awkwardly shifts from one foot to the other.   
“I am not a no one…”, I hear Simon sigh right next to me.   
This must have been the day the Mage told him.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated :)


End file.
